blog posts

• Can’t or Won’t: The Culture of Helplessness.

  Mar 13, 2019 2:45 pm234 views

  Can’t or Won’t: The Culture of Helplessness. We might provide the most detailed of instructions, but students will still find a reason to challenge those instructions as inadequate and shift the responsibility of the work to us, writes Lori Isbell. She reports about the increasing “helplessness” of our students and their tendency to send emails and text messages of all sorts with the most basic questions about the most obvious matters. It is a helplessness, I believe, that is part feigned and part real, but nevertheless it is a problem that is eroding academe.  Students and faculty then bat back and forth of who is responsibility for the clarity of a task. Yet that is not necessarily because the students lack academic ability -- although that may be true as well at the community college level -- but because they lack academic agency, it seems. They are unable or unwilling to recognize their own role in developing college skills, in earning a college education.

• Research Highlights How Easily, Readily Students Fabricate Excuses.

  Mar 13, 2019 2:30 pm9 views

  Research Highlights How Easily, Readily Students Fabricate Excuses. When students are unable to comply with some aspect of an academic task (e.g. due date, assignment length, quality of work), there is potential for them to communicate reasons as to why they were unable to complete the task to their instructor. At this point the students have a choice, in which case they can either provide legitimate reasons for not being able to complete or to submit their coursework, or they can communicate something which is a deliberate attempt to deceive the instructor. This study described found that individuals do engage in reporting claims in an attempt to deceive their instructor even when motivated by academic tasks with low academic consequences and, possibly more alarmingly, that many students possess great confidence in their abilities to “get away with” reporting fraudulent claims. 

• Reliable Sources: Promoting Critical Thinking in the [Mis]information Age.

  Feb 25, 2019 2:30 pm6 views

   Reliable Sources: Promoting Critical Thinking in the [Mis]information Age. Information cannot always be trusted. Despite popular opinion regarding the devastating impact of the Internet on the modern age, the inherent untrustworthiness of information is not new. Satire, misinformation, and disinformation have been circulating for centuries, even long before the printed word. However, thanks to the relative ease of creating and sharing content online, our students are confronted with publications created solely to entertain, persuade, and incite via incorrect or incomplete statistics. The traditional steps of the research process--such as resource evaluation--have seemingly fallen to the wayside in deference to instant gratification and confirmation bias.  Making critical thinkers of burgeoning researchers in an age of information overload and “fake news” requires three steps to help students and faculty alike reevaluate the nature of research as it is viewed in and outside of the classroom.

• Fostering Student Learning through the Use of Debates

  Feb 25, 2019 2:30 pm12 views

  Fostering Student Learning through the Use of Debates. There are many ways to get students engaged in a classroom, but when topics are controversial or taboo, students may shy away from sharing their thoughts on the subject. In contrast, some may be so overly passionate about a topic that they proselytize their point. One tactic that helps students feel comfortable enough to speak about controversial topics is through debates that are structured and promote students’ preparedness in defending or opposing a particular stance on a topic.

• Hitting Pause – 65 Lecture Breaks to Refresh and Reinforce Learning

  Feb 12, 2019 4:45 pm91 views

  Hitting Pause – 65 Lecture Breaks to Refresh and Reinforce Learning. If we slip into a colleague’s classroom, we see a lot of what Jensen (2008) calls “nonstop learning” (p. 220), which is when teachers talk and there are no pauses for students to interact with what they are hearing. This is what we observe: The teacher is in the front of the room at the podium, PowerPoint slides are up on the screen, and the only break occurs when the instructor momentarily stops explaining and asks a question. If anyone responds, usually a student near the front of the room answers before anyone else has a chance to think of an answer. If instructors who think that their students are actively engaged because one person has come up with an answer to a question could observe their classrooms from the back of the room, they might notice that many of their students are looking at e-mail, texting on their mobile phones, and not paying attention. Students might wish that there was a pause button connected to their college professors. How helpful it would be if their instructors recognized the need to stop talking occasionally so that learners could rewind, take a moment to check for understanding, and prepare to continue.

• How Good Are Your Discussion Facilitation Skills?

  Feb 12, 2019 4:30 pm22 views

  How Good Are Your Discussion Facilitation Skills? Successfully leading and guiding student discussions requires a range of fairly sophisticated communication skills. At the same time teachers are monitoring what’s being said about the content, they must keep track of the discussion itself. Is it on topic? How many students want to speak? Who’s already spoken and wants to speak again? How many aren’t listening? Is it time to move to a different topic? What’s the thinking behind that student question? How might the discussion be wrapped up?  Most of us are not trained discussion facilitators.  Here is an empirically developed instrument that can be used to more clearly identify the various skills involved in effective discussion facilitation and to gather student feedback that can help you assess yours. 

• What We Can Learn from a Bad Day of Teaching

  Jan 29, 2019 1:30 pm13 views

  What We Can Learn from a Bad Day of Teaching. We’ve all been in the classroom when our lessons flop, our students get restless, and we feel like captains of a sinking ship. Jena Lynch claims that all teachers have bad days, but the best teachers are the ones who can learn from their mistakes. She will reflect on a bad teaching day and what she learned from it. You are encouraged to take a reflective approach to your own teaching for your students’ benefit and for your professional development.

• Informal Early Feedback (IEF): A Valuable Opportunity for Just-in-Time Feedback (Now is the time)

  Jan 29, 2019 1:30 pm6 views

  Informal Early Feedback (IEF): A Valuable Opportunity for Just-in-Time Feedback.  Student evaluations of teaching are an important part of the feedback that instructors receive. This feedback can be especially helpful when it is collected midway in the semester. Our students can tell us if we explain clearly, are well-organized, grade fairly, and more. They may also be able to tell us if the activities we give them are well aligned with the ways we evaluate their learning. Responding to students’ comments by discussing them in class, and making changes as appropriate, can lead to increased motivation, better learning, and possibly improved end-of-semester student ratings. Here is a description of the process and sample forms for you to adapt. Also, CITL is offering two workshops next week (Feb. 4th and 6th) to help you design your own IEF form.

• Ideas to Create a Welcoming, Engaging and Inclusive Classroom

  Jan 7, 2019 11:15 am21 views

  Ideas to Create a Welcoming, Engaging and Inclusive Classroom. The teaching-learning process is an inherently social act. Throughout the learning process students interact with the instructor, their peers and the course content, often simultaneously in a classroom setting. All of these interactions help shape their success in the course. Instructors can support student success by being mindful of the social and emotional dynamics in their course and ensuring the learning environment is one that is welcoming, engaging, and inclusive. In preparing to teach a course, consider specific actions you might take to create a positive learning experience. It can be small simple things, or more involved and mindful actions you take throughout the semester.

• Strategies for Starting the Semester Well

  Dec 10, 2018 10:15 am8 views

  Strategies for Starting the Semester Well. Whether you have been teaching for several years or are beginning to teach your very first semester, being prepared for the start of the semester will help make the transition successful for you and your students. The following is a list of strategies you can use the first day and into the first weeks of the semester that will help you create an engaging, motivating, and organized classroom environment.

• End-of-the-Semester Reflection from the Teachers Point of View

  Nov 30, 2018 2:00 pm1 views

  End-of-the-Semester Reflection from the Teachers Point of View. Make self-reflection a part of the end of the term teaching process. Self-reflection helps you retain the insights you’ve gained along the way as you have been teaching the current course, and it will inspire you to seek out new approaches; you’ll feel more comfortable, confident, and engaged next semester. Some areas to consider are general reflections and what to do with the information you gathered.
  

• Managing the End of the Semester: How to Avoid Hitting the Panic Button

  Nov 30, 2018 2:00 pm3 views

  Managing the End of the Semester: How to Avoid Hitting the Panic Button. Do you ever feel like your back is up against the wall at the end of the semester? You haven’t got all the material you intended to cover covered. Your course syllabus spells out X amount but you’re not quite there yet. It’s a race against time. There are only a few class periods left. You start jamming like there’s no tomorrow. Your main objective: cover the remaining content. Rather than trying to cover that last bit of content, refocus those last few days on providing review sessions. Get with your students and go over that which you have covered, where you’ve taken them, and how far they’ve come.

• The Rhythms of the Semester: Implications for Practice, Persona

  Nov 12, 2018 3:15 pm6 views

  The Rhythms of the Semester: Implications for Practice, Persona. We recognize that in the march of the semester we begin on a different note than we end on. The early weeks hold promise and high hopes, both often curtailed when the first assignments are graded. The final weeks find us somewhere between being reluctant or relieved to see a class move on. There is an inexplicable but evident interaction between our teaching persona and the persona a class develops throughout a semester. Some structural factors influence both: among them—the type and level of a course, the discipline, the time of day, and whether the students are a cohort or a unique collection of individuals. Here are some ways in which the semester changes over the weeks. 

• Creating Cartoons to Spark Engagement and Learning

  Nov 12, 2018 3:15 pm1 views

  Creating Cartoons to Spark Engagement and Learning. As instructors, we are constantly looking for new ways to capture our students’ attention and increase their participation in our classes, especially in the online modalities. We spend countless hours crafting weekly announcements for classes and then inevitably receive multiple emails from our students asking the very same questions that we so carefully and completely answered in those very same announcements! The question remains, how do we get them to read our posts?

  It was precisely that problem I was trying to solve when I came across several articles touting the benefits of comics in higher education classrooms. I wondered if I could create a content-related cartoon that would not only capture students’ attention and maybe make them laugh, but also interest them enough that they would read the entire announcement or post. After a positive response, I decided to provide my online and face-to-face students the opportunity to try their hand at cartoon creation. This activity provide more ways for students to develop higher levels of assimilation and creation (Bloom’s Taxonomy, 2001).

• Using Grace and Accountability to Uphold Course Expectations

  Oct 25, 2018 6:00 pm3 views

  Using Grace and Accountability to Uphold Course Expectations. Hello. My car caught on fire last night after leaving homecoming game. I carry my laptop everywhere I go. I’m in the process of strapping to get another one. I’m just glad I got out cause the driver door was messed up.  Carmichael and Krueger (as cited in Weimer, 2017) report the challenges of verifying student claims for why an assignment can’t be completed on time. But how is an instructor expected to respond when she receives emails like the one above and how can you minimize student excuses in the future?

• Are You Telling Stories in the Classroom?

  Oct 25, 2018 6:00 pm2 views

  Are You Telling Stories in the Classroom? I’m not speaking of lying or delivering fake news; I’m talking about an actual story. I like to avoid phrases like “meaning-making,” but that’s what a story can do for students—it allows them to listen, learn, and remember. Consider this: A story communicates something, by definition, and can entertain, amuse, delight, divert, provoke, offend, disturb, disappoint, but in all, a story can instruct.There are five parts to a story: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution. This is all fine and good, but a story delivered in the classroom, whether one of these single parts or the sum thereof, can be the spark to help students remember and recall information in a new way, and enable them to grasp the material.  We get to consume, hear a tale unravel. We get to learn something. 

• Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom

  Oct 2, 2018 5:45 pm21 views

  Three Ways to Ask Better Questions in the Classroom. I’ve been doing some presentations on classroom interaction and thinking yet again about how we could do better with our questions — the ones we ask in class or online. Good questions make students think, they encourage participation and I think they improve the caliber of the answers students give and the questions they ask. To achieve those worthwhile outcomes more regularly, I’d like to recommend three actions that have the potential to improve our questioning: prepare questions, play with questions, and preserve good questions.

• The Sound of Silence Can Be Deafening and the Questions You Ask Your Students Can Provoke It

  Oct 2, 2018 5:00 pm6 views

  The Sound of Silence Can Be Deafening and the Questions You Ask Your Students Can Provoke It. A colleague recently told me that the students in his undergraduate class “didn’t want to talk.” I probed, “What kinds of questions have you asked your students?” He replied, “Well, the first question I asked this morning was ‘What is the main point of the article I assigned for the day?’” Nobody said anything. I pointed out that even I might be afraid to answer such a question. Such questions pose a severe challenge to the confidence of undergraduate students, because the instructor knows the answer and they don’t. When it comes to answering questions about “facts,” there are many ways to be wrong, but only one way to be right. When faced with this dilemma, students are understandably silent. I suggested that he come up with nonthreatening questions: questions that didn’t put a student’s self-confidence and reputation at risk.

• The Need for Balanced Feedback

  Sep 15, 2018 5:30 pm15 views

  The Need for Balanced Feedback. In the online class environment, students enjoy many advantages, such as increased scheduling flexibility, ability to balance work and school, classroom portability, and convenience. But there are potential shortcomings as well, including the lack of student-instructor interaction and a student not understanding the instructor’s expectations. A key mechanism to convey expectations while increasing student-instructor communication is relevant, timely, constructive, and balanced instructor feedback.

• Informal Early Feedback (IEF)

  Sep 15, 2018 5:15 pm16 views

  Informal Early Feedback (IEF): A Valuable Opportunity for Just-in-Time Feedback.  Student evaluations of teaching are an important part of the feedback that instructors receive. This feedback can be especially helpful when it is collected midway in the semester. Our students can tell us if we explain clearly, are well-organized, grade fairly, and more. They may also be able to tell us if the activities we give them are well aligned with the ways we evaluate their learning. Responding to students’ comments by discussing them in class, and making changes as appropriate, can lead to increased motivation, better learning, and possibly improved end-of-semester student ratings. Here is a description of the process and sample forms for you to adapt.  Also, CITL is offering two workshops this week and next to help you design your own IEF forms. Here is the information about the workshops.

• Could Your Assignments Use a Tune-Up?

  Sep 3, 2018 4:45 pm4 views

  Could Your Assignments Use a Tune-Up?  How do students think about assignments? A lot never get past the idea that they’re basically unpleasant things faculty make them do. What does interest a lot of students is finding out what the teacher wants in the assignment, not so much what the assignments asks but more seeking insight as to what the teacher “likes.” Discover that and there’s a better chance of a good grade, or so the thinking goes. Unfortunately, very few students look at an assignment and think, now there’s an interesting learning opportunity. And how do faculty think about assignments? With multiple courses and lots of other work besides, with each new assignment developed there’s a tendency to first consider the amount of grading that will come with it. Assignments are what students ride on their way to learning. Our responsibility is to provide good vehicle maintenance and recognition when it’s time for a trade-in. 

• Three Ways to Engage Students In and Outside the Classroom

  Sep 3, 2018 4:45 pm11 views

  Three Ways to Engage Students In and Outside the Classroom. When students become directly engaged in the learning process, they take ownership of their education. The following learning activities have helped me to engage students in and outside the classroom. The strategies also help keep my teaching relevant, fresh, and creative. They are: a) get real, b) see a show, and c) breathe fire.

• Make the Most of the First Day of Class

  Aug 8, 2018 4:45 pm14 views

  Make the Most of the First Day of Class. The first day of class always creates some nervousness, even for seasoned instructors. It helps to have a mental checklist of objectives to accomplish so that you and your students come away with the impression that the course is off to a good start. The first class meeting should serve at least two basic purposes: 1) To clarify all reasonable questions students might have relative to the course objectives, as well as your expectations for their performance in class. As students leave the first meeting, they should believe in your competence to teach the course, be able to predict the nature of your instruction, and know what you will require of them and 2) To give you an understanding of who is taking your course and what their expectations are. These two basic purposes expand into a set of eight concrete objectives. 

• First Impressions: Activities for the First Day of Class

  Aug 8, 2018 4:45 pm14 views

  First Impressions: Activities for the First Day of Class. The old expression that you never have a second chance to make a first impression is certainly true in the classroom. Early in my career, I tried several first-day-of-class strategies, ranging from briefly introducing the course and dismissing students early to spending the entire time reviewing policies and procedures, but I began to feel that I was missing an important opportunity. Students are never more attentive than they are on the first day of class, when they’re eager to determine what kind of professor they’re dealing with, and although it is tempting to delay the real work of teaching and learning until the class list has stabilized, it can be difficult to change even the subtle norms that are established during this initial class. Here are some easy to implement strategies.

• Identifying Pearls of Wisdom from End-of-Semester Course Evaluations

  May 9, 2018 10:30 am13 views

  At the end of the semester it can be valuable to take a few moments and reflect on what went well in your courses, and what you might want to change the next time you teach them. One source of information is the student evaluations of teaching, available to you after you submit your final grades.

• Checklist for the End of the Semester.

  May 9, 2018 9:00 am9 views

  As the semester is coming to a close, when all is still fresh in your mind, it’s the perfect time to review, reevaluate, renew, and recycle. Here is a short checklist of things you can do now to make things easier, more efficient, and more productive next semester; e.g., review your syllabus, update your lesson plans and review your assignments and exams.

• Conquering ‘Forty Percent of the Grade’: Interactive Strategies for Helping Students Prepare for Comprehensive Final Exams.

  Apr 24, 2018 3:15 pm4 views

  “But it’s 40% of the grade!” First-year Political Science students commonly raise this concern about the comprehensive final exam often given at the end of introductory survey courses. Many are simply unsure about how to study for cumulative exams. Further, commonly recommended approaches (such as reading carefully and taking notes) tend to preference visual learners. Students who learn best by talking through their ideas and actively participating are often at a disadvantage and struggle with identifying strategies that work for them. Preparation often becomes an anxiety-provoking, last-minute cram session filled with more stress and caffeine than actual learning. Here are four strategies to help students of all learning styles identify key concepts, relate them to one another, and develop critical essay arguments during the course of the final exam.

• Final Exams.

  Apr 24, 2018 8:00 am4 views

  A common complaint from students is that final exams do not always test the kinds of knowledge that is asked for in homework or quizzes or presented in lectures. Whether this perception is accurate or not, it's still an excellent starting point for talking about what you are testing when you give a final exam. The worst final exams can seem unfocused, determined to test everything, or random things. The best final exams are learning moments. If you presented a set of learning goals and objectives to your students on your syllabus, you're way ahead of the game, because that means you've thought through what is important to you for a particular class. The very simplest procedure then is to develop an exam that will demonstrate whether students have achieved these objectives.  

• Class Discussion: From Blank Stares to True Engagement

  Apr 9, 2018 6:15 pm29 views

  The idea of attempting to engage students in discussion is rather frightening. There’s always the possibility that we will be met with silence. Sociologists have long contended that our behavior is guided by norms. The college classroom is no exception. You have likely noticed whichever seat a student sits in on the first day of class is where the student will sit for the entire semester. It is a normative expectation that students have about the classroom. Why can students get away with only paying civil attention; i.e., creating the appearance of paying attention? The answer is that we as faculty let them. Here are some ways to create new classroom norms.

• They Haven’t Done the Reading. Again.

  Apr 9, 2018 6:15 pm30 views

  If you believe the research, on any given day, something like 70 percent of our students come to class having not done the assigned reading. That phenomenon is immensely annoying to most faculty members. Who among us has not faced a classroom full of blank stares, with seemingly no one prepared to answer the well-thought-out question we've asked about the reading? How can we ensure that students are meeting what should be a very basic responsibility? You need to demonstrate that the students need to do the reading to take full advantage of class time.

• Students as Forgotten Allies in Preventing Cheating

  Mar 29, 2018 8:00 am7 views

  Faculty are pretty much focused on preventative measures, which are essential, but there are a couple of other issues rarely mentioned in the literature or in our discussions. Students who don’t cheat usually aren’t on our side when it comes to enforcing cheating policies. In one study, almost 93% of the students said they had witnessed another student cheat, but only 4.4% said they had ever reported a cheating incident (Bernardi, et. al., 2016) Students are in a bind—they don’t want to rat out fellow classmates, some of whom may be friends. If they do and word gets out, they are labeled as “snitches” and “tattletales” — told to mind their own business and otherwise berated. With serious social consequences like these, it takes real courage to do the right thing.

• Cheating and Plagiarism on the Rise?

  Mar 29, 2018 8:00 am29 views

  Cheating and plagiarism have received considerable press nationally, with many colleges and universities reporting that breaches of academic integrity are increasing every year. Unfortunately, we do not have accurate numbers as many faculty members may choose not report incidents to their departments, but what is known is there is an increase in sophisticated and premediated methods of cheating and plagiarism.  To discourage cheating, there are a number of strategies that you can implement.

• Learning Fundamental Principles, Generalizations, or Theories

  Mar 6, 2018 8:45 am1100 views

  How can we improve our students comprehension of basic principle? How can students show they "comprehend" a principle, generalization or theory? Bloom talks about three ways: 1) Translation: restate the principles, generalization or theory in their own words, b) Interpretation: involve the student's recognition that the communication is describing the operation of a principle, c) Extrapolation: making of predictions based on understanding of the trends, tendencies or conditions described in the communication. This article describes the teaching strategies to promote these levels of understanding, along with ways to assess their understanding.  

• Teaching Students Specific Skills

  Mar 6, 2018 8:45 am11 views

  Sometime it is important to teach students how to do something, not something abstract like thinking, but how to execute some observable skill, such as starting an IV, writing code, or wiring a circuit. Teaching skills, much like teaching in general, shares certain similarities that are relevant across a variety of degree programs. It’s good to review these and use them to take stock of how we can better help students learn specific skills. This article describes some of those assumptions about how learners can master skills. 

• Harness the Power of Emotions to Help Your Students Learn

  Feb 15, 2018 9:30 am5 views

  Have you thought about emotional presence in our online and face-to-face classes? There seems to be an enduring sense that emotions have no place in the lofty halls of academia. Our pursuit of knowledge should be rational, detached, unaffected by such trivialities as our emotions. But I don’t think that’s right. Our emotions are a central part of our humanity. To deny them is to deny the essence of who we are. In fact, not only should we not try to separate emotional responses from learning, but we can’t, according to recent neuroscience research.  Here are some ideas drawn from this article and the book “The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion” by S. Cavanagh.

• Active Learning Strategies in Face-to-Face (and Online) Courses

  Feb 15, 2018 9:15 am17 views

  As numerous research studies suggest, teachers who desire increased student learning should adopt active learning. This article explores the research, defines active learning, discusses its value, offers suggestions for implementing it, and provides six concrete examples of active learning approaches: Thinking-Aloud Pair Problem-Solving; Three-Step Interview; Think-Pair-Share; Visible Quiz; Value Line; and Send/Pass-a-Problem. Here are the descriptions for these strategies and more.

• Can Anything be Done about Students Multitasking?

  Jan 31, 2018 12:15 pm10 views

  The amount of multitasking students do during class and while studying is alarming. Consistently, in response to surveys, more than 85% of students say they have their phones on in class, are looking at texts as they come in and during class, and between 70 and 90% say they respond to texts in class. And this is happening in courses with policies that prohibit or significantly curtail the use of electronic devices. What we’re seeing in class also happens when students study outside of class. There it is most often a case of task switching (toggling between separate tasks, attending to each independently for a short period of time). This article reviews some of the research findings on reducing students’ multitasking.

• Students’ Definitions of the College Classroom

  Jan 31, 2018 12:15 pm2 views

  How participants in an interaction define a situation will determine what behaviors they see as appropriate for that context (Goffman 1959; McHugh 1968). The college classroom is no exception. Students’ satisfaction with a course and their willingness to engage in certain activities will depend in part on how well the instructor’s definition of what is and ought to be happening in the classroom aligns with their own. An important part of the process is defining the roles, the expectations for behavior, of both the instructor and students. This posting looks at how students define their own and the instructor’s responsibilities in class and what impact this has on student learning.

• Don't Be Alone during Office Hours

  Jan 3, 2018 3:30 pm4 views

  As part of a series on creating conditions for student success, there was a student panel addressing a group of faculty about their experiences thus far at Berkeley. The students talked about their favorite classes, what made them so valuable, and what their professors had done to engage them so effectively in learning. When one faculty member brought up the topic of office hours, the students became relatively silent. When asked how many on the panel had gone to office hours, none raised their hand. It was surprising in some ways to hear about so many transformative experiences that all centered around student-faculty interaction, yet an opportunity like office hours was not being capitalized upon. Why not? Heading into a new semester is a good time to give some consideration to how you can increase the use and effectiveness of your office hours - for your students, and for you. 

• Students and instructors have different expectations about classroom etiquette

  Jan 3, 2018 3:30 pm4 views

  While some behaviors would be considered rude and offensive in any context, others are a matter of individual interpretation. For example, some instructors are bothered if students wear hats, eat in class, slouch, etc. while others are not. Moreover, what is considered appropriate (or rude) classroom behavior can vary strikingly from one culture to another. For example, members of one culture might be comfortable addressing professors by first name, while members of another find this disrespectful. Finally, standards of courtesy vary from discipline to discipline and department to department. To complicate matters further, even in the context of a single class the boundary between appropriate and inappropriate behavior can be subtle and difficult to navigate. Here are some strategies in navigating diverse expectations.

• Strategies to Share with Your Students on How to Prepare for Final Exams

  Dec 7, 2017 1:30 pm9 views

  Finals week can be a stressful time for all students–I know it is for me. So, knowing how to properly prepare for finals is the key to avoiding stress and acing every single one of your exams. Of course, all students would love to relax by receiving massages or by the healing power of dogs before finals (I sure would!).  But, we all know this isn’t really possible. There needs to be a uniform way to assess our performance as students and it has to happen at some point (hence, “finals”). So how else can we lower stress and know that we’re on the right track to excel in each course? Well, here are some proven methods that will have you focused and better prepared for final exams.

• Teaching Tip: Ending a Course

  Dec 7, 2017 11:15 am11 views

  The last few days of a course are often hectic for both teachers and students, and it is easy to miss out on a final few chances to wrap up the learning that has occurred throughout the semester. As Maier and Panitz (1996) note, ending a course with only a final exam often leaves students with a feeling of dread or inadequacy, rather than with a sense of accomplishment. A better goal for teachers is to help our students leave the course with a solid idea of what they have learned and how they can carry that new knowledge and skill base into future experiences. Here are a few ideas of how you can end your semester in a meaningful way.

• Not just the same old drill: Student-authored test questions improve critical thinking

  Nov 14, 2017 10:15 am7 views

  Faculty frequently name critical thinking as one of the most important goals for student learning. However, a key challenge to cultivating critical thinking can be the development of complex assessments. This can be especially difficult in large classes, when many tests and quizzes are in a multiple-choice format. In a recent study published in the Journal of Dental Education, a team of U-Michigan faculty investigated a new approach to mitigate these challenges. This student-centered approach to testing asks students to work in teams to design their own multiple-choice questions. One result is that students reported that it helped them on exams and enhanced their critical thinking skills.

• Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Types of Test Questions

  Nov 14, 2017 9:00 am6875 views

  It’s good to regularly review the advantages and disadvantages of the most commonly used test questions, such as multiple-choice, true-false, short answer, and essay.  Also important is to think about the considerations when using the test banks that now frequently provide these questions. There are also several interesting variations that build on the above options. 

• Six Causes of Student Resistance (to Learning)

  Nov 2, 2017 8:45 am1032 views

  A lot of students just don’t seem all that interested in learning. Most faculty work hard to help students find that missing motivation. They try a wide range of active learning strategies, and those approaches are successful with a lot of students but not all students. Stephen Brookfield writes about students who are beyond being passive about learning—they just plain resist it. He suggests that teachers can’t respond successfully unless they are knowledgeable about the sources of resistance to learning. Here are the reasons for student resistance.

• Hang In There! Dealing with Student Resistance to Learner-Centered Teaching.

  Nov 2, 2017 8:45 am23 views

  Student-centered teaching methods like active and cooperative and problem-based learning make students take more responsibility for their learning than traditional teacher-centered methods do, and the students are not necessarily thrilled about it. All college instructors who have tried the former methods have experienced student resistance-and if they were getting high evaluations when they taught traditionally, their ratings may have dropped when they made the switch. Click here to learn more.

• How Good Are Your Discussion Facilitation Skills?

  Sep 26, 2017 5:00 pm7 views

  Successfully leading and guiding student discussions requires a range of fairly sophisticated communication skills. At the same time teachers are monitoring what’s being said about the content, they must keep track of the discussion itself. Is it on topic? How many students want to speak? Who’s already spoken and wants to speak again? How many aren’t listening? Is it time to move to a different topic? What’s the thinking behind that student question? How might the discussion be wrapped up?  Most of us are not trained discussion facilitators. Here is an empirically developed instrument that can be used to more clearly identify the various skills involved in effective discussion facilitation and to gather student feedback that can help you assess yours.

• Facilitating Class Discussions: Understanding Group Development and Dynamics.

  Sep 26, 2017 4:00 pm28 views

  Facilitating discussions requires the ability to engage different perspectives and skills in response to the needs of the group. How well a group works together depends upon the dynamics among participants and the ability of the facilitator to gauge and respond to these dynamics. An effective facilitator works to create an inclusive learning environment while being prepared to set boundaries and rules when necessary. Yet, even experienced facilitators can be confronted with situations or individuals that prevent the group from functioning. This essay describes some reflective practices that can prepare facilitators and participants for productive group discussions.

• Improving Your Test Questions

  Sep 26, 2017 9:45 am2 views

  An effective test can accurately measure what students know but also the kind of knowledge and the depth of that knowledge.  It can also provide you with key information regarding alignment of the learning objectives stated at the beginning of the course with what is being assessed in your exam. Implementing key testing principles and making good decisions regarding exam types, test items, and grading are ways to ensure that student learning is accurately measured. Here are some tips from our Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. You can also register for our CITL workshop on Oct. 4th (Improving Our Testing and Grading of Student Achievement) to learn more.

• How Should I Study for the Exam?

  Sep 26, 2017 9:45 am1 views

  When an exam approaches, virtually all students agree they need to study and most will, albeit with varying intensity. Most will study the same way they always have—using the strategies they think work. The question students won’t ask is: How should I study for this exam? They don’t recognize that what they need to learn can and should be studied in different ways. 

  When they get a good grade on an exam, students regularly attribute the success to luck. Students’ success as learners would advance if they had a larger repertoire of study strategies, if they could match study strategies with learning tasks, and if they constructively confronted how they studied with how they performed. Students need help on all three fronts, but courses are already packed with content. Most teachers have time to do little more than admonish students to study hard, avoid cramming and memorizing minutia, and abstain from any sort of cheating. Here is a short survey to administer to your students and how to start a short discussion on “How to study for this exam."